Bat-Graphic: How Gotham City’s Supervillains Have Evolved

Superheroes are only as good as their villains—and that goes for superhero movies too. That’s why Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, which concludes in July with The Dark Knight Rises, has been so much fun. Batman’s rogues gallery is among the best. Though to be fair, the new movie stars good villains with spotty film history—Catwoman (now played by Anne Hathaway) has had more than nine cinematic lives, and one of them was Halle Berry. And hey, remember Bane, demoted to grunting henchman status in Batman and Robin? (Actually, if you remember Batman and Robin you probably qualify for a class-action settlement.) In fact, the ups and downs of Gotham City’s bad guys tell the story of how depictions of the Dark Knight have changed over the years. In other words: from comic, to tragic, to scary.—Tim Leong

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